Triangles
by Bunnihop
Summary: DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

"I'll see you later Mabel," Dipper said as they both walked their separate paths.

"You too Dipper!" Mabel called back. She met up with her friends, a huge smile on her face. She waved at Dipper then turned around and walked off with the two girls surrounding her.

Dipper noticed that they usually had a certain order when they walked off. A huge girl to Mabel's left, in the middle Mabel, and to the right of her an Asian girl with glasses. It reminded him of the sun somehow, the planets always revolving around it because of the natural gravitational pull. Meanwhile, Dipper didn't know what he would be, but he guessed he'd be a meteor; crash and burn.

Sighing himself out of the depressing thought, Dipper walked to his first class of the day. Math.

What he liked about math was how formulaic it was. He knew what to do. Even if he made a mistake along the way he could fix it. He could make _absolutely_ sure that he was correct in what he was doing. Unlike with people who were very, very fickle and unpredictable.

That day the teacher was running late. His students were left out in the hallway because the door was locked. They were lined up in 2 lines against the walls with some rebels not in the lines.

Despite how early it was, everyone besides Dipper were in a bright and cheery mood. Like Mabel, he thought, on a 24 hour daily basis. The chatter of the hallways was really loud, he was surprised that no one came out of their classroom to shush them. He had a headache already from all the noise.

He was always bored even when doing schoolwork. It wasn't that he liked doing it. Schoolwork was merely something to distract him from the boredom that plagued him. It also served as something to distract him from the jealous thoughts of Mabel he'd been having for a year or so. Mabel did nothing wrong, he knew, so why did he keep having urges to beat her - pummel her - destroy her - into dust?

Dipper groaned to himself, holding his temple with his forefingers. He didn't want to hurt Mabel, he really didn't. The urges weren't very strong when Mabel was hanging out with him but when she was gone the voice in his head constantly whispered. " _Killherkillherkillher."_ That was what the voice said, but the urge was to put her in a near-death state, but that was pretty much the same thing. In both cases she'd end up dead. And that really wasn't good, was it? He felt like a madman what with the voice in his head which he was _sure_ wasn't normal. Then again, Dipper wasn't what a regular person would call 'normal' to begin with.

Rapid footsteps knocked him out of his thoughts. The teacher was jogging towards them, his rolling backpack in tow, sliding along the smooth floor. Quickly taking out his keys, the teacher opened the door and all at once the kids went in, Dipper with them. He felt trapped momentarily between the crowd of bodies. They were pushing against him to enter the classroom all at once, causing him to feel very uncomfortable.

Once he was out of the traffic he let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding. It figured that he would have to encounter this again tomorrow. Rather, multiple times again today and tomorrow… and many more days after that.

School really was hell. He'd get to watch so many people hang out with each other and he, he was just a focal point in the picture.

Dipper knew people noticed him alone all the time. Sometimes he'd hear "he's always alone" or "I feel sorry for him" whenever people passed by him everyday, sitting near the swing-set since it was the most isolated part of the school during breaks. But it was barely isolated; so many people still came there.

There'd be some people who would come to tease him about how lonely it was. It wasn't strong enough to be bullying since they would leave only a few minutes later, but the words they said definitely cut skin deep. Coupled with other skin deep cuts and each time they were usually by different groups of people teasing him near the swing-sets.

Mabel was one of the people who hung out there once in awhile. He saw her and she saw him. During the brief moments they made eye contact, Mabel was the one who always looked away first, a pang of something flashing in her eye, disappearing quickly as she regarded her friends around her. He'd look back at the book he'd chosen to read and try to disappear into it. Harder than it seemed with a crowd of talking chattering behind his ear.

When they were alone, Mabel would talk his ear off, all her attention on him. Not unwelcome and she did keep him company. It made him feel less lonely but come school and come his parents, Mabel was the star.

And everyday he was reminded of this. It was like math in a way; the problems changed but the way you solve them didn't, and if it did, only moderately.

Like his routine. Everyday was different, but everyday was the same. His boring old routine. It was something he liked, the predictability. But someday, somehow, he wished that the routine would be broken. That it would become exciting.

After all, it was no fun solving the same math problem over and over again.

...

Dipper didn't remember most of his dreams. The one he remembered for the longest was only for a few minutes after waking up. He remembered it because it was the happiest dream, a dream where he wasn't lonely. A dream where the stage was shared with him and Mabel. The mundanity of it was nothing special, but he was happy. He was in a shared spotlight and he loved it.

That dream was pushed away from first place and it was replaced with this dream he was having now.

Dipper didn't know this was a dream at first. The world was painted in a monochrome black and white. The ground was concrete, cracked and broken and rugged. The only thing there besides the clouds and sun that were too pitch black was an antique swing-set, sitting atop the uneven terrain and nearly falling apart.

"What is this place?" Dipper muttered to himself, looking around. Thunder flashed in the distant sky, but there was no illumination to accompany it.

"WELL WELL WELL. IF IT ISN'T ONE OF STANFORD'S RELATIVES," an echoey, high-pitched voice said. The voice was coming from everywhere.

The air, which was previously still, began to move, most noticeably swirling in the area in front of Dipper. As quickly as it came, it stopped, and out popped a yellow triangle with an eye in the middle and limbs somehow protruding from its body.

"HIYA PINES," the triangle being said, lifting his top hat in greeting. "NAME'S BILL CIPHER." He floated closer to Dipper. "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DEAL?"

"A deal?" was what came out of Dipper's mouth, though he was mostly focused on Bill's one eye. It was not Dipper's imagination. The triangle really was smiling.

"YES. A DEAL." He circled around Dipper. "TELL YOU WHAT, I'LL BE YOUR FRIEND."

"You will? And… Pine Tree?"

"IT'S A LONG WAY OFF IN THE FUTURE, PINE TREE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT." Bill answered, wrapping his arm around Dipper's shoulder. "SO WHAT ABOUT IT KID? I'LL BE YOUR _BEST_ FRIEND. NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME. WHAT DO YOU SAY PINE TREE?"

It was only natural to hesitate. Dipper didn't know how to answer to the floating shape, which Bill noticed.

"THAT'S FINE. I'LL WAIT." Bill held out his hand. Blue flames engulfed it, making Dipper take a wary step back. "TAKE YOUR TIME KID. NO STRINGS ATTACHED. I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE IF YOU EVER NEED ME. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE A DEAL." The flames were extinguished.

"A deal?" Dipper was suspicious. "And in that deal, what would I have to do in return?"

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? YOU TREAT ME LIKE YOUR FRIEND IN RETURN. AFTER ALL, THERE'S NO POINT IN BEING FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE YOURS. AM I RIGHT?" Bill put his arms behind his back. His eye grinned smugly.

"Yeah," Dipper said. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked at the ground. A flower that looked very similar to a spider web was growing out of one of the cracks.

"I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE. IF YOU EVER NEED ME…!"

"Where is here, anyways?" Dipper asked softly, but he was sure Bill could hear him.

Dipper didn't get a response, and it was obvious why once he opened his eyes. "A dream?" he murmured. He groaned, putting his head under the covers. "Of course it was a dream. No one, not even a geometric shape, would ever want to be friends with me."

"Hey, Dipper," Mabel said. "What are you mumbling about over there? It's time to get ready for school." She threw her hands up in the air and made a hushed cheering sound.

Leave it to Mabel to be excited for school.

"Huh. School. " Dipper threw the covers off. "Yeah, I'm coming. Let me get ready."

"You got it bro-bro!" Mabel flashed him a thumbs up. "I'll wait for you at the bus stop."

"No need to tell me," Dipper said to himself so Mabel couldn't hear. "You wait for me there everyday."

"You're talking to yourself again. Give some of your talking to me, huh?" Mabel said playfully, pushing the door open.

"What?"

"Betcha I can beat you to the bus stop Dipper!" Mabel said, zooming off and arms in the air like airplane wings. "Vroooommm."

"That's no fair," Dipper said. "You had too much of a head start."

In the hallway Dipper could hear the sound of Mabel's laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

The days after the strange triangle, Bill, came were still oh so dreary. Every other day since then, Bill would pop up in his dream, always with a cheerful attitude and _somehow_ with a cheery face. On some days he'd ask to play checkers, on other days he'd want to talk. And on these days he'd want to make a deal. It was a routine Dipper had become used to.

"HAVE YOU MADE UP YOUR MIND YET?" Bill asked as he was drinking a cup of tea. Actually he was pouring it into his eye, but that didn't seem to bother him. "THE SOONER WE GET THIS OVER WITH THE BETTER THE FRIENDSHIP WILL BE."

On Dipper's side was a teacup filled with, what he would call, dream tea. On the cup was an eye engraved into it, an eye that looked a lot like Bill's eye. Around it was a triangle. It gave Dipper an unsettling feeling in his stomach that wasn't from drinking the tea. Honestly when he drank the tea it coldly settled into his stomach. Quite a contrast from the warmth when he brought it up to his lips.

Crazy was what Dipper called himself when he felt that the eye on the teacup was watching him. Rather, it was Bill that was watching him through that cup. It was impossible, wasn't it? Bill was right there in front of him. There was no reason for him to watch Dipper through a cup.

But hey, this was a dream and anything was possible. Even if he was having doubts about whether these dreams were dreams or not.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE WORRIED, KID. DON'T YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND? DON'T YOU WANT _A_ FRIEND? JUST SHAKE ON IT, YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO DO ANYTHING IN RETURN. ALL I ASK IS THAT I BE YOUR _BEST_ FRIEND." He poured another sliver of the liquid into his eye.

Dipper cringed as he watched. Dream or not, pouring that much in his eyes would hurt like hell. He couldn't even put eyedrops in without wincing. He wondered where all that tea went. Probably to nowhere.

"DEAL?" Bill said, putting out his hand.

Dipper said no.

…

Dipper thought that maybe he wouldn't have to be friends with the triangle in his dreams. A kid had approached him, noticing how lonely Dipper was. The name of the kid was something that alluded Dipper as of now.

They talked the whole recess. It was a short and really awkward talk. The kid would try to think of something to talk about and Dipper would answer in short, one worded answers, pretending to read his book. It wasn't like the kid's presence was unwanted. Dipper just couldn't think of anything to add to a conversation.

The silences in between weren't that awkward to Dipper. He liked it, actually. He liked having company with him, even if the company felt awkward.

Dipper wasn't oblivious to the awkwardness the kid felt. That was why he came up with questions of his own when the kid came up to him at lunch. Actually, he asked the kid the same questions that the kid asked him. But that was a start, maybe one day the kid could become his best friend. Not Bill whom he would ever meet only in his dreams.

During the days the kid wouldn't meet him, the kid would hang out with the kid's other friends. The kid apologized in advance.

"My friends don't want to hang out with you," the kid said. "They don't want me to hang out with you for long either. They'd miss me." And Dipper nodded to acknowledge that.

It seemed that Dipper wouldn't become anyone's best friend anytime soon.

One day Mabel came up to them, a huge smile on her face.

"Hey bro-bro!" she said. Dipper responded with a slight wave of his hand. "I've been wondering, who's your new friend?"

And then Dipper introduced the kid to her and then Dipper got to see Mabel have a full blown conversation with the kid without any effort. To the side Mabel's two best friends chimed in once in awhile but it was mainly her and the kid doing the talking.

It made him feel self conscious with how quiet he was, but he had nothing to contribute to the conversation, which really wasn't a surprise to anyone. The kid or Mabel would notice and try to include him in but Dipper felt so incredibly embarrassed when they did that. It made him feel like the odd one out even moreso.

Eventually they forgot about him and they kept chatting. Chatting without him.

They didn't even notice when he left.

They didn't even notice when he left the next six times. No one noticed when he left the school grounds during the breaks. Maybe this was why the voice in his head told him to _killherkillher._ Everyone noticed her.

Even if it meant making a deal with a mysterious triangle guy who only appeared in his dreams to get noticed _only_ by said guy, so be it.

At least he wouldn't be a ghost.

…

They shook hands.

"OH, OH PINE TREE. YOU'VE MADE A GREAT CHOICE. YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET IT SEVERELY."

And he already had.

...

After the day of the deal, Bill appeared more often in his dreams. Nighttime was the time of day Dipper liked the most but now with the appearance of Bill, he liked it even more. He was eager to get to sleep to meet Bill, knowing with certainty that he'd have the spotlight he'd always wanted, brief as it was.

Unlike the conversations with the kid, there were little to no silences around. Bill was just so easy to talk to. Bill was right, he was his best friend. There so much to talk about, Dipper wondered why everyone couldn't be like Bill. Maybe it was because Bill was something he created in his mind, he didn't know. He didn't know if Bill was even real.

There wasn't much evidence saying that Bill was other than remembering each and every dream Bill was in. Dipper didn't know why, if it was the work of Bill or not, but either way, he liked it. He liked the company even if the company was his own mind.

Dipper found himself falling asleep earlier and more often. Sometimes he'd go to the nurse's office during the times it was closed. The school was cheap and it only paid the nurse to come to school on Mondays and Fridays. Something that Dipper thought was a bit ridiculous but now he thought of it as a blessing.

No one ever went to the route of the nurse's office during breaks. It wasn't allowed unless you really had to. No one doing yard duty would come to the nurse's office. After all, no kids were allowed there.

People prided Dipper on being smart. Dipper wasn't sure about that, but now he prided himself on being smart. He could boost his ego, couldn't he? Bill was the only one that would ever boost his ego anyhow.

Lately Dipper found himself doodling triangles on his schoolwork and homework. He decided that they were his favorite shapes. Although, they felt empty so he doodled in an eye in the center of the triangles. Still, they felt empty. So he decided to make the triangles in an exact likeness of Bill. At least, he tried to. Art wasn't Dipper's forte, that was more of Mabel's thing.

Speaking of Mabel, she noticed how many times Dipper attempted to draw Bill. She came up to him as he was drawing him again.

"What's that?" she said, pointing at the drawing of Bill.

"It's something I saw in my dream," Dipper said. He didn't look at her as he spoke, focused solely on the drawing and nothing else.

Mabel 'oohed'. "Can I join?" she asked. Dipper didn't care but he nodded. She pulled up a seat beside him and using his drawing as a reference, began to draw Bill. When Dipper stole a glance at her picture, he noticed that despite never seeing Bill, her drawing was a near perfect likeness of him.

Some days, Dipper wondered why she was so fortunate.

But he was getting better at drawing Bill. One day, he'd be better than his sister.

…

Dipper thought that maybe he was becoming obsessed with Bill. He'd skip the entirety of school to sleep. It was funny how easily he was falling asleep. He remembered staying up until midnight to try to fall asleep, yet it wouldn't come. Now, he could fall asleep just by willing it. He loved it.

Today, Bill had a new deal.

"KEEP MAKING TRIANGLES, KID, AND I'LL TALK TO YOU WHEN YOU'RE AWAKE TOO," he said and that was it. Dipper was confused when he said that because of course he'd continue making triangles. He liked to see Bill outside of his dreams, drawn onto surfaces, it made him feel less lonely.

Despite the oddity of that Dipper shook Bill's hand anyways. No harm could come out of that, Dipper would do what he considered routine.

…

These days Dipper found himself making more triangles. He carved them in desks and in the nurse's office. He didn't get to see any of the staff's reaction when they saw but according to Bill, it was a real doozy.

When Bill first came along, Dipper wasn't sure if he was only a dream. Now, he knew Bill was real as he was when Bill's voice came into his head. Either that or he was going crazy. It was a scary thought, going insane.

But if going insane meant living with the best company of his life, so be it.

The voice that had told Dipper to kill Mabel had completely disappeared, replaced by the calm of Bill's presence.

Dipper was getting a lot better at drawing Bill. Coupled with the fact that Bill now spoke to him in his head, he never felt alone anymore. Still, talking face to face with him was so much better.

Dipper's parents and Mabel were beginning to grow worried about him. He could tell even though they tried to hide it. He didn't know why they were worried. Maybe it was because his grades were slipping by a landslide.

His parents would reprimand him for skipping school. They'd talk about the many phone calls the school made and what they did wrong for him to do such a thing. Mabel's questions became annoyingly incessant. Not a day went by when she was pestering him with questions about what he was doing, where he was going. It was hard to get her off when she decided to become a flea but for Bill, he did it.

Dipper noticed how many triangles there were in his life. Not enough. He wanted - he needed - more triangles there. He needed to see Bill even if it wasn't actually him. He couldn't go around town making more triangles so he instead lay in his room whenever he got the chance. Well, it was both his and Mabel's room. He hated that tremendously.

With the permission of his parents and Mabel who continuously asked what was with him and his obsession with triangles, he redecorated the room into a triangle paradise. But he guessed it didn't matter much. He'd fall asleep as soon as he entered the room.

As the days passed, summer vacation drew near. His parents had nearly given up on him but Mabel still remained as persistent as ever. A week before summer vacation, his parents gave them the news.

"For summer vacation, you two will be visiting your great uncle Stan in Gravity Falls!"


	3. Chapter 3

Somehow Bill had already known about the trip to Gravity Falls.

"DO ME A FAVOR WHEN YOU GET THERE, WILL YOU?" Bill said.

"Sure," Dipper said. "What kind of favor?"

"HOW ABOUT… YOU CAN SEE ME OUTSIDE THE DREAMSCAPE. AFTER THAT, I'LL TELL YOU THE DETAILS OF THE FAVOR AND YOU DO IT FOR ME. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, PINE TREE?"

The answer was obvious. Dipper made his third deal with Bill.

He should've pestered Bill more about the details but by then it was too late. When Dipper got up that morning, he felt something foreboding, like he made a terrible choice. Like something was going to happen and it was something bad.

But, nothing bad could happen. Bill would never let something bad happen to Dipper, not if he could help it. They were best friends, after all.

…

Dipper was frustrated when he found out about the vacation. He didn't like change, he didn't like visiting relatives he'd never met before. He didn't even like it when relatives came over, but not Mabel. No, she was a bundle of joy and just loved meeting new people, old and young. Obviously Mabel was the favorite, but Dipper couldn't really blame them.

He doubted any of his relatives knew of his existence when he came over. He just stayed holed up in his room the whole time. Luckily, not once did any of his relatives sleep over for more than a day.

But of course his luck would change and in the worst way possible. He'd have to stay over at a stranger's place for a month with a great uncle he'd never even heard of until now.

Dipper panicked. He would _have_ to meet this Stan, there was no denying that. He had no social skills, how was he supposed to make a good first impression on his great uncle? Mabel was the one who stole all his social skills.

Mabel didn't help his worries any. When she heard the news, she jumped for joy. When she felt like she should, she reminded Dipper of the vacation. "Are you excited, Dipper? Huh?" and "I can't wait to meet our great uncle. This will be so exciting!" Apparently Mabel didn't catch the _will you shut up_ messages Dipper was sending. Either that or she was blatantly ignoring them.

Whenever he panicked, Bill was there to calm him down sometimes. He helped him take his mind off the visit by talking about other things. Bill was such a blessing to have around. Dipper didn't know how he'd fare without him, or how he'd fare with the inevitable meeting with his great uncle.

Everyone in Dipper's family was getting ready for the big day. They decided to go shopping. They invited him but he declined. Going shopping was just like school, a hellhole.

Dipper watched them enter the car through the window. On that day, a crazy idea had been planted into his head. Crazy, but if he did that then Dipper would know with certainty that Bill would always be with him - he'd be more comforting.

Oh lord, Dipper really was going crazy.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

He went to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.

Dipper stared at the knife in his hand. His family wouldn't be back for a while now.

He could hear Bill's words of approval in his head. It wasn't enough. He wanted more. The triangles in his house weren't enough. He looked at himself in the mirror. Slicking his hair back, he could see the big dipper birthmark. It looked empty, somehow. It needed something else, another accessory on his forehead.

He raised the knife to his forehead. He braced himself for the pain. It was going to hurt. It was going to hurt a lot. Bill's presence lingered in his mind.

Dipper touched the blade to his forehead. He cut in. It hurt. Already he could feel the pain and yet his hand remained steady.

He made three lines. Three perfect lines connected to each other.

A perfect triangular shape. It was beautiful. Absolutely magical.

"Hey Dipper!" Mabel said cheerfully, sliding in the doorway. "I forgot to ask, do you want… any… thing…" She gasped in horror when she saw her brother's bleeding forehead. His hair covering the triangle was soaked in red. "D - Dipper? Are you okay? Oh my god ohmygodohmygod."

Dipper stared blankly at her. "Oh. Mabel. I should've known that you would come back so soon… just to ask that."

"God, god! Dipper. Your head, ohmygod your head! What happened to it?" She covered her mouth with her trembling hands. "You need to get treatment! Oh, why don't we have a first aid kit around here?" She suddenly slammed the side of the wall with her fist.

"I'm fine Mabel." His voice sounded hollow. "But look." Dipper pulled his bangs apart to fully reveal the bleeding triangle to her. "This is wonderful, a wonderful picture to see, isn't it?"

"What? No! Oh no, oh no, oh no. Nonononono," Mabel said. She ran quickly, nearly slipping on the floor. "Mom! Dad! Dipper's hurt!"

"I'm fine Mabel," Dipper said. He doubted she could hear him. He could see red dangling from his eyelashes.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. Still he needed to add more. But he wouldn't yet. He needed to hone his artistic skill more… and his dexterity.

Bill laughed and praised him.

…

It was the longest time his parents had ever scolded him. At least, it felt like it. Dipper stopped fully listening to them after the first word. He thought they were talking about not letting him go Gravity Falls. He wasn't worried about that. They made plans and once they made them, they kept them. His father was pretty strict on schedules, never missing one appointment or date.

After a long while they stopped berating him. Dipper repeatedly denied any attempts to bring him to the hospital or any of their treatments. He overheard them talking about whether to bring him to a therapist or not in private. A therapist? What a laugh. He didn't need any therapist. He wasn't troubled - or insane. The only reason he did it was for Bill.

But how would he describe Bill to his parents? A creature who appeared in his dreams? A voice in his head? Both? No matter how he'd explain it, Dipper's parents would still think he was crazy.

He guessed he'd have to cover the triangle up with his hair, like he did with the big dipper. What a shame. Unlike the birthmark, Dipper actually wanted to show off the triangle. He knew someone, like his great uncle Stan probably, would ask about it. How would he explain it to him? Dipper didn't want Stan to think he was insane. Maybe it was better for him not to go to Gravity Falls.

Dipper was actually worried about what a guy he'd never met thought about him. What a laugh. How stupid of him. So why the hell was he still panicking?

Dipper noticed that Bill wasn't there to calm him down. That triangle was always disappearing and appearing in his head randomly. There wasn't any correlation that Dipper found, it was always just so random. Dipper hated it when Bill disappeared. But, sometimes was better than never.

Besides, the triangle on his forehead was just as great as a source of comfort. Dipper traced the scar with his finger. Yes, a great source of comfort.

"Are you going to be showing off that triangle to everyone you know now, Dipper?" Mabel asked as she sat beside him. Her smile was a bit smaller than usual today.

"Ugh. No, probably not," Dipper said, leaning back. "It'd be too hard to explain."

"But you don't have to explain it!" Mabel said. She threw her arms up in the air and teetered backwards on the edge of her seat. She caught herself. "It'll be like a cool mystery thing."

"How would it be a cool mystery thing, exactly?"

Mabel laughed. Was it just him or did her laugh sound different? It was probably just him. "Because you're not explaining it, duh. I mean, how did a triangle scar replace a birthmark?"

"Go over a birthmark, you mean," Dipper said. "My birthmark's… not gone."

"Yeahh," she said slowly. She looked up at the sky. "What do you think? Pretty cool mystery, huh?"

"Not really."

"Oh." Her face went blank for a second. "Yeah. Cover it up then, Dipper."

She left, leaving Dipper to wonder what that conversation was about.

…

In the end, Dipper's parents decided to let him go to Gravity Falls, their reason being that he needed some fresh and new air. Which meant that he would _have_ havehavehave have to meet his uncle. Which meant more panicking. He knew that was stupid, it was probably stupid to panic. He'd have to calm down or else he'd make an even worse impression. It seemed like the only person he could talk to normally was Mabel and his parents.

" _DON'T FORGET ME, PINE TREE_ ," Bill's voice said in his head.

And of course, he couldn't forget Bill. He could never forget Bill.

Bill was the reason why Dipper made the final decision to cover the triangle up. In one of Dipper's dreams, Bill said he had plans.

"Good plans?" Dipper asked.

And Bill said that they were and Dipper believed him. He also said if Dipper decided to show off the scar proudly then it would ruin Bill's plans. And Dipper wouldn't want that.

Bill was right. Dipper didn't want that. He'd be a terrible friend if he ruined Bill's plans. Bill was his first friend and the best person… Bill had the best personality out of anyone Dipper had ever met. He was amazing. Dipper wanted to repay him back.

He asked about the plans.

"YOU'LL KNOW LATER. FOR NOW, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT." Bill laughed that time and floated upside down. Dipper laughed too and joined him upside down. It was a real shame he couldn't stay in the Dreamscape forever.

He had a few more minutes of bliss, momentary bliss, before he woke up. It was earlier than usual because today was the day that he would meet his great uncle.

And today was the only day to make a first impression. So he had to make it count.

He looked over at Mabel. She was sleeping peacefully, her face contorted into a small frown. She was snoring softly. Funny, she was usually up earlier than him.

Dipper walked over to her bed and shook her. Mabel stirred and opened her eyes, slowly. As she blinked faster and faster, she smiled.

"Hey, Dipper! Today's the big day," she said.

"I know."

…

Dipper's parents were wrong. Mabel and he weren't visiting their great uncle. They were visiting their great _uncles._ Instead of one Stan, there were two Stans. Also, they happened to be twins like Dipper and Mabel. Why was there two instead of one? Dipper highly doubted that his parents would say one great uncle instead of two.

When they first entered the house… or tourist trap named Mystery Shack, two near identical people, his great uncles obviously, were the first thing he noticed. They looked very similar to the picture his parents had shown him.

He was about to enter the shack, Mabel in tow, when one of his great uncles stopped him. The other uncle was bordering in between inside and outside, holding the door open.

He shined a light in Dipper's eyes. Quickly, so Dipper didn't have any time to react. He did the same to Mabel before pushing the both of them inside. "Come in, come along now," he said.

He closed the door. "Uh, hi," Dipper said, smiling which he knew for sure was very stiff. He stole a glance at Mabel whose face was very confused. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two old men.

"Hi, Stan! And…" she trailed off.

The man wearing the tan coat frowned. "I told you to call the plans off. How are we going to explain it these kids?" he said, gesturing towards Dipper and Mabel while facing the other person.

The other man wearing the black suit shrugged. "It's not like I _could_ do anything. They just shoved them onto me," the man said, shoving the air. Dipper decided to interject because he felt the conversation would turn into a full blown argument.

"So, uh," he said. The stiffness completely overtook his face. "Can you two… introduce yourselves?"

The black suited guy chuckled. "What, your parents didn't tell you? We're your great uncles!"

"They don't know about me, Stanley," the other one said. He turned to face the children. In a much kinder, softer tone of voice, he said, "My name is Stanford. I'm your other great uncle." Dipper stared at him while digesting the information.

"Other great uncle, like secret great uncle?" Mabel asked, standing on her tiptoes. "Like, great uncle who can't be revealed to the world for some reason? That'd be so cool, don't you think Dipper?"

"Uh, yeah. Cool," Dipper said. He was mostly focused on the thought that he'd probably made a fool of himself in front of two strangers. Bill's encouragement didn't help, Dipper was already facing his great uncle(s), there was no way he could get his mind off that.

"But still, two Stans? I'll call you Great Uncle Ford," Mabel said as she pointed at Stanford. "And you Grunkle Stan!" She pointed at the one Stanford called Stanley.

"What? How come he gets the full title?" grunkle Stan said, eyeing Ford and Mabel with disbelief.

Mabel blinked. "Because you were the one we saw first," she said.

"By that, she means you're the one in that picture our parents showed us," Dipper said, seeing the confused exchange of eyes. All eyes were on him. Crap. Dipper swallowed inaudibly.

…

Dipper didn't know how he survived that. He didn't know what they thought of him but he was sure he made a bad impression.

" _RELAX KID, YOU DID FINE,_ " Bill said. His words didn't help any matters.

Dipper flopped down on the bed. Like before, he shared a room with Mabel. Their room was up in the attic. Ford escorted them there along with very strict instructions to not go outside until the day they had to go back home. Dipper and Mabel merely nodded at his instructions. Dipper with one small nod and Mabel with multiple, bouncy nods.

He thought it was ridiculous that they had to stay cooped up inside the Mystery Shack. How were they supposed to get food to eat, or drink drinks? Not to mention that their parents made them come over here to get some fresh air. Staying cooped up in this shack all day was hardly a good way to get some fresh air. But he held his mouth shut. Surely if his great uncles were able to live here for who knows how long, then they were able to get food and water to survive.

Either that or the 'stay in the Mystery Shack rule' only applied to Dipper and Mabel. If that was the case (and he felt very strongly that that was the case) then Dipper absolutely abhorred them. All that panicking for two bunches of jerks.

Dipper could feel Bill laughing. In approval, but for what Dipper didn't know.

Dipper got up and rummaged through his luggage. Mabel watched him with curiosity.

"Hey, Mabel, want to play a board game with me?" he asked. He hoped that by doing so he would be able to distract his mind.

Mabel's ears perked up and she sat straighter. "Oh, a board game? Which one?" she said.

"Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons," Dipper said. He pulled out the game, looking expectantly at her. He didn't really expect her to agree, but it was good a chance as any. He wasn't surprised when Mabel slouched.

"Oh," she said. "Isn't that your favorite nerdy nerd game with the cool box cover?" She looked directly at the box.

"Yeah."

Mabel didn't say anything, thinking. "Yeah, sure. Let's play it."

Dipper was shocked, his eyes widening. He grinned and Mabel grinned back. "Cool."

He set the board game on the table and opened it. "I know you might not remember how to play this, so I'll tell you again," he said. As Dipper explained the rules of the board game to her, Mabel's grin slowly slipped away and she frowned. It gave Dipper a major case of deja vu except this time her frown was smaller.

Mabel grabbed his hand to stop him from explaining. "You know what?" she said. "I'm more of a hands on person. I'll learn the rules as we go along."

Dipper nodded, crumpling the edge of the graph paper. "Yeah. You can do that."

As time passed on, Dipper learned that she could not do that. Learn the rules of the game, that was. He could tell that she was growing bored, although she did her best to hide it. Every once in awhile she would frown, but her frown would disappear quickly. Dipper was just about to call it a day when two quick knocks on the door interrupted their game. The door opened and Great Uncle Ford came in.

"Hey kids," Ford said. "I was, uh, just wondering. Did you two ever see a triangle with one eye?" He made his hands into the shape of a triangle over his eye to demonstrate it. Mabel glanced at Dipper.

"No," Dipper said. "Never seen one. Unless you're talking about the ones on dollar bills?"

Ford shook his head. "Not those ones. How about you, Mabel, was it?"

Mabel shook her head. "No triangles with one eye that I've seen! But I'll be on the lookout."

Ford nodded before looking at the table. The look on his face as his gaze landed on something was the happiest Dipper had ever seen all day. His expression was bright, really bright.

"Is that Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons?" Ford said, staring at it in awe.

"Yeah!" Dipper said. "You know that game, Great Uncle Ford?"

"Boy do I," he said. He looked like he was about to say something more but Mabel interjected.

"That's great," Mabel said. "You two can go bond over that game. I'll go hang out with Grunkle Stan, if you guys don't mind." She pushed her hands together.

"Sure, go ahead," Ford said. Mabel waved and walked out of the room.

They started playing the game. Ford clearly knew what he was doing. Despite the fact that Dipper could rarely find a playing partner and Ford was probably the best player he'd met, Dipper felt somewhat apathetic as he played. It felt like there was a hole somewhere in his heart.

Playing the game was fun in and of itself, but there was something that felt weird. He couldn't figure it out and it was driving him crazy. Of course, he couldn't focus on it for long because he was playing the board game with Ford. Somehow, Dipper doubted that he would form a bond with Ford.

But, at the very least, Dipper's opinion of him had gone up. That was something. Maybe Ford's opinion of Dipper had gone up.

..

Nighttime had come and Ford had to leave. Reasons being he was too busy and Dipper should get to sleep because he was a young boy.

Mabel was already sleeping. As soon as she walked in, she went to the bed and immediately fell asleep.

Unlike the other times, Dipper had a hard time sleeping. It was like the other times before Bill came. He tossed and turned for probably an hour before getting up again. "Sorry Bill," he muttered. "Guess I won't be seeing you in the Dreamscape tonight." Bill didn't respond.

Dipper got up, making sure he was quiet so as to not make any noise. Bathed in the small glow of the nightlight, the room was just bright enough to see the pen and post-it note. He grasped the pen in a grip. Maybe, if he drew Bill one more time, then he would be able to become sleepy enough. Worth a shot.

He noted with satisfaction that the Bill he drew on the yellow post-it note was practically a near replica of him. The only thing off were the colors, but there wasn't much he could do about that.

"I'LL BE USING THAT FAVOR NOW, PINE TREE." Bill said suddenly, the words resounding in Dipper's head.

Dipper jumped, accidentally hitting the wood and cringing at the sound it made. It wasn't loud, not in comparison to Bill's voice. He looked over at Mabel and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that she hadn't woken up.

"SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PUPPETS?" He let the implication hang in the air.

And Dipper realized that he totally, completely, messed up.


	4. Chapter 4

Mabel realized that Dipper didn't like her. She didn't know when it started. She didn't know why it happened.

After second grade, Dipper had become really distant from her. She realized he had trouble making friends, she knew because she was always with him. Mabel wanted him to make more friends so she introduced him to some of her own. Dipper always declined to hang out when she brought three or more friends over. One or two, well, there was a fifty-fifty chance of him declining or accepting.

Third grade, Mabel had given up on hanging out with him at school. He was always so reserved and lately declined 99 percent of her invitations. The invitations he didn't decline, he'd be still sitting doing nothing. It'd be like he didn't accept at all.

Mabel thought Dipper didn't like people. Whenever she brought her two friends over he'd stay holed up in their room. He'd lock the door each and every time. He wouldn't even go outside to eat if they were around.

She thought she'd give him personal space. There was no reason to force herself on him. Maybe all he needed was a breather from people. He was never the outgoing type. That must've been it.

Still a year later and Dipper was so, so quiet. But that was only at school. At home, he was much more responsive. But Mabel noticed a distance between them that wasn't there in kindergarten or first grade… when everything was pure and happy and she didn't have any worries. Mabel wanted to fix that bond, make them closer.

Since Dipper was much less responsive at school, she reasoned that he must not want to hang out with her during it. So she stopped. Mabel was sure he must have been happy at that.

Still, watching him alone near the swings was painful to see. She'd avert her eyes but her eyes could never look away for long. That was why she rarely went near that part of the playground.

School was pretty much the best part of Mabel's life. She got to meet new friends, learn new things and express her creativity. Her scores weren't as good as Dipper's, but they were decent enough. Although, she'd love it if she was as smart as Dipper. But she couldn't have it all.

One day, when her friends decided to drag Mabel off to near the swing sets area, she saw that Dipper was talking with a person. She watched with glee as the apathetic expression Dipper always had on his face melted. To an extent. And of course that expression would return from time to time. But at least it'd go away.

Mabel rarely saw Dipper's face express any emotion when with her. Even at home. The most she ever saw was a frown. It made Mabel jealous of the kid who was able to bring out those emotions in him.

"Mabel?" One of her friends said. Her friend was snapping her fingers in front of Mabel's face. "Are you in there?" Mabel blinked, brought back to reality by her friend.

"Course I am," Mabel said. "I just got a little caught up in my thoughts is all."

…

Since that day Mabel had taken to visiting that area more often. She made sure to have a fair amount of distance between her and Dipper. That kid was there with him more often than not. Maybe Dipper was finally growing out of his be-with-no-one phase.

She went up to them, her friends coming with her. She noted the slightly angry expression on Dipper's face which was gone quick as a flash. Mabel always had an active imagination, maybe it was just that, but just in case she'd keep that face in her memory storage.

"Hey bro-bro!" she said. Dipper waved his hand. He never acknowledged her hi's before, this was awesome! Maybe he did grow out of that phase. "I've been wondering, who's your new friend?"

He turned his head at the kid. "This is…"

Mabel held out a hand towards the kid. "Hi, I'm Mabel. Nice to meet you!" She received a nod of acknowledgement.

"Likewise," the kid said.

They ended up talking with each other the rest of break. Mabel noticed the severe lack of talking on Dipper's part. Well, contributing to discussions was never his forte. She'd ask him a bunch of questions that she knew he could answer. That way, everyone could win. It was a shame that she'd never know if it was working, guarded as he was.

Somewhere during the kid's and her conversation, Dipper decided to go off to who knows where. Mabel was tempted to call him out on it. She stopped herself though. Maybe he'd return. Or maybe he was too overwhelmed by the many people around him.

She returned day after day to that place. Each time Dipper would leave without saying a word. He wasn't leaving immediately when she arrived, which was a relief. And each time Mabel was pretty sure he left at a later time. She thought he was finally warming to people again. Exposure to more people was the best way for him to warm up, she was sure. So she continued visiting him.

Then one day Dipper just suddenly stopped appearing near that area. She wanted to ask him, but she didn't. In time, he would tell her. In time, he'd tell her everything he was keeping from her. She'd wait until that day.

…

Mabel wondered what dreams Dipper was having. He was always a person with a hard time sleeping. More than once Dipper woke her up with his not so quiet tossing and turning. She wondered what exactly it was that made him so tired to make him sleep that quickly. She remembered asking questions in the dead of night which he would answer, even if he didn't know the answer. Now she remembered asking him a question as soon as they hit the bed and he was already out like a light. Even Mabel couldn't fall asleep that fast.

"What are you doing everyday to fall asleep that quickly?" Mabel asked him once, bouncing on the bed and laughing.

Dipper said nothing for a long few minutes. It was awkward, waiting for his response. "I have help from a friend," he said. "He helps me fall asleep."

"A friend?" Mabel said. "Who is he? Can I meet him?"

"No."

And that was it. He cut off all attempts conversation and refused to answer any more questions.

Mabel did something wrong, didn't she? To garner such cold reactions from him.

The time which really felt like bonding time between her and Dipper was when she drew something with him. It was a triangle thing with one eye. He said it was something he saw in his dream.

She now knew _something_ that he dreamt about.

...

Triangles were now something that Mabel grew really tired of seeing. Specifically, triangles with one eye in the center, a top hat, sometimes a cane, and probably made up of bricks. And it was all because of Dipper and his triangle obsession.

Even in her room she couldn't escape that triangle. Granted, she did say that Dipper could redecorate their room with triangles but honestly, all those eyes were creepy! She swore they were following her and his every move. Creepy creepy creepy creepy creepy. They were like those lifelike dolls in those stores, except she couldn't escape those triangles.

Why couldn't Dipper make other triangles? Like triangles with a little flower in them, or just plain triangles? Or triangles within triangles. Judging from how peacefully he slept, those triangle eyes did not bother him in the least. Mabel had taken to moving the nightlight all the way to Dipper's side so she could barely see the triangles. Currently, she was awaiting his complaint.

The darkness didn't help in the morning, when the sun rose her. The light would shine on the triangles and they would shine even more ominously than before. It was like they were laughing at her, making fun of her discomfort.

The temptation to rip them down was something she was having a hard time resisting.

But she would, for Dipper. Because that was what he wanted.

But honestly, his triangle obsession was a bit much. Actually, she was under-exaggerating it. It was way too much. The fact that he was getting even more distant was something she could handle, even if it was something that upset her. The fact that his grades were dropping JUST enough for him to pass was something she could handle.

The triangles were something she just couldn't handle. Maybe it had something to do with the eye, making her feel like she was being watched. Honestly, a picture should not have her feeling this way.

Mabel felt a little bit of guilt. Dipper had finally found something to make him happy (even if that thing was weird), and here she was, wishing for whatever made him happy to go away.

On the bright side, she'd be able to get away from the triangles when she went to her great uncle Stan's house. She was too much of a coward to say no to Dipper, but Stan would probably say no to him should he ask to decorate the room with triangles, unless he was one of those cool uncles.

…

Day three after Mabel and Dipper found out that they would be visiting their great uncle.

The lights were on in their room. That wasn't surprising since Dipper didn't make a habit of turning off the lights anymore.

Mabel was about to knock on the door when she heard something. It sounded like Dipper mumbling to himself, oddly enough. He was usually asleep 24/7. Luckily he left the door slightly open so she could eavesdrop. It wasn't like she was meaning to. What he was saying just caught her attention.

She peeked through the crack, pushing the door a little bit more open. Dipper was pacing back and forth, eyebrows furrowed and deep in thought.

"...Of _course_ my luck would change, and in the worst way possible," he was saying. "I'll have to stay over at a stranger's place for a month with a great uncle I have never even HEARD of until now. I HAVE to meet this… Stan, there's no denying that." He groaned. That was the most emotion she ever saw him express. Why couldn't he express these worries to her? Whatever, she'd respect his privacy.

Mabel felt sorry for Dipper. She knew that meeting new people was hard for him. She knew that better than their parents or anyone else, but obviously besides him.

Her eyes lit up, a lightbulb flashing above her head as she got a great idea. If Dipper's excitement overrode his worry, then he'd be too excited to worry about meeting Stan. And in order to make him excited, Mabel would have to hype hype hype him up. She pushed the door open.

"Are you excited, Dipper, huh?" she said as she barged in. Dipper jumped a little but his expression changed into the one that Mabel had known him for.

"For what?" he said. The panicked tone he had before was completely erased. It made Mabel a little upset that he was now so uncomfortable with her.

"To visit great uncle Stan, duh," she said. She clapped her hands.

Dipper's eyes shifted back and forth. "Sure. Whatever."

The strategy obviously wasn't working. She'd have to try harder to make him excited.

...

It still wasn't working.

…

Shopping was one of the things Mabel liked to do. She requested to go shopping with her parents. Maybe she could find a gift Stan liked. She never met him so it would be hard to choose just the perfect one, but her parents would be there to help. Dipper didn't go, which was to be expected of him. If he was an animal, then he would be a hermit crab.

They got in the car. Mabel saw Dipper watching from the window and she waved. His body vanished, leaving before he saw the wave. They drove all the way to the first stoplight before Mabel realized that she forgot to ask Dipper if he wanted anything. Her interactions with him so far weren't usually friendly ones so she could at least do that. She'd be a good sister, a good person, for him.

If she knew him well, then he would most probably say he didn't want anything. It was worth a shot though. Once he answered nothing then Mabel would buy him a book. Given his obsession with triangles with one eye lately, she'd search for a book with those in them. Except that it'd be super hard to find one.

She asked her parents if they could turn back. They said they could and after an agonizing minute until the stoplight turned green, they went back.

Mabel hurried back into the house, parents waiting in the car. Dipper slept a lot so she checked his room first. Much to her astonishment, he wasn't there. It was a rarity that he _wasn't_ in there, besides the days when he had to go to school. Assuming he didn't skip school, that was.

She searched around the house before she found the bathroom door open and light shining through from it. For some reason it glowed an ominous light, a dangerous light, almost like the light that shined on the triangles in their room. It caught Mabel off guard, making her hesitate.

Nah, that was just stupid. Light didn't harm anybody unless that body was dead. It was just her overactive imagination.

"Hey Dipper!" Mabel said, running towards the light. It was a good thing that he was in there otherwise she would've looked dumb to herself, talking to an empty room. "I forgot to ask, do you want… any… thing…." Her brain must have been working slower than usual, considering the time it took for her to register what Dipper was doing. Her smile on her face was just like Dipper's when he tried to smile. Fake, so, incredibly fake. It was frozen, completely frozen. "D - Dipper? Are you okay? Oh my god ohmygodohmygod."

She knew that he made his forehead bleed, if the red tipped knife in his hand was any indication, gripped tightly like it was a lifeline. His hair had fallen onto the wound making it hard for Mabel to see how bad it was. Judging from the intensity of the flow, very bad. God only knew why Dipper wasn't affected by it. She covered her mouth, hiding her fake smile that just wouldn't go away.

Mabel didn't know what he said next. She didn't know what she said next. She remembered slamming the wall, hoping to god that this was a dream. Pinching herself was an option, but it wouldn't hurt enough. Dipper said something she couldn't quite catch, all the while parting his hair away from his forehead.

There was something very, very wrong with Dipper's voice. She didn't know what it was, but it was very, very wrong. She panicked and ran for her parents. She ran and ran because whoever that was, it was not Dipper. She distinctly realized that she was yelling something at the top of her lungs.

…

Mabel tried to convince herself that Dipper did not inflict the triangle scar onto himself. Who was she kidding, of course he did it. There was no one around then and he even admitted to it so freely. She just didn't understand why.

She decided to take a more Dipper-like approach on understanding him. That was, spend hours cooped up in a random place to brainstorm ideas. The place she had chosen was their room, specifically to keep an eye on him in case he decided to do something stupid again. It seemed unlikely, though, since after the freakish yelling by their parents the only thing he ever did was sleep. Dipper never even ate, not as far as she knew. Further proof that the Dipper right now wasn't the real Dipper and instead a changeling thing that replaced him.

That didn't change the fact that she just knew that that was his body, his real body. She could just tell, maybe through twin intuition. She didn't know anything anymore. She knew, with a one hundred percent certainty, that she cared for Dipper. She knew that he hardly cared about her. With how little time they were spending together lately, she could've predicted that.

Mabel really wished she had his smarts now. He could analyze the heck out of a story, he could probably do the same to a real life person.

The only way she could get an answer now was to ask him. Would he really reply with a real answer? It seemed too simple. Hopefully the simple way was the way to get to the solution.

…

Mabel liked to think of a daring person. Someone who charged straight in, no second thoughts, no fears.

Asking Dipper why he carved a triangle in his forehead was a much harder task than she thought. Frankly, it was because of her own cowardice. Instead of asking, "why did you do it" she asked, "are you going to show off that triangle" or some variation of that. She didn't remember. Only thing she recalled was her cowardice.

She wondered if Dipper knew how she felt, if he felt her fear.

...

…

Maybe Dipper did care for her. He did invite her to play a board game which was pretty much nerdy, but at least he wasn't sleeping.

Then Great Uncle Ford came in and asked about a triangle with one eye. Obviously Mabel did - she had seen those, wayyy too many of those. For some reason, Dipper lied. So, she did too.

Ford spotted the Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons game.

What happened after led Mabel to playing something like matchmaker. She left them alone so they could bond. After all, they had the same interests. She'd go bond with Grunkle Stan.

If it weren't for the fact that he seemed incredibly uninterested in her.

She spotted a box off to the corner of the Shack.

"What are those?" Mabel asked, pointing to the signs in the box.

"Oh, those?" Stanley said. "They're just signs I've been meaning to put up… but I couldn't."

He was too distracted to notice Mabel walking out the door, the box of signs in tow. Putting the signs up for him would be a good way to bond, probably.

...

Mabel hummed a tune while putting up the signs. On a certain tree, while hammering the screw in, she noticed that a spot where the bark was a lot harder than usual made a strange sound. Out of curiosity, she knocked on it. The sound again, a metallic sound. "Ooh, Mystery." Mabel knocked on it again, harder.

She felt along the bark and felt something like an edge. Pulling on it revealed a tiny door.

She leaned in to get a closer look. In it there was some kind of electronic device… radio. Mabel wished Dipper was here. She could share her amazing finding with him. Oh well, it'd be a shortstory to tell him later.

She played with the switches. Nothing happened at first but then she heard a sound behind her. She looked back to see a trap door. "Wow! That's so cool. Maybe it's some kind of secret treasure!"

Dipper would really love this. An avid hunter of mysteries was what he was. He used to read a bunch of mystery books, until a few years ago.

Mabel walked over to it and saw a book with a golden six fingered hand with the number three on it. She picked it up. It looked old, but it seemed like it had been used recently. The book was in much better shape than she thought for some secret treasure.

.

"What's this?" she muttered to herself as she opened the book. She flipped through the pages, stopping on a page with a very familiar triangle on it, recognizing it as the one her brother had been obsessively drawing. "Can't be trusted."

She scanned the book from back to front, and repeated the process once more before stopping on a random page. The page had something about a metal plate to put in someone's head. For something.

Mabel held the book close to her chest. Rather, the correct term would be a journal based on what she read there. She could bring it and share it with Dipper. After all, he was always up for more knowledge. That didn't change even when his triangle obsession started.

With a jolt, her memory recalled something that she had forgotten. To not leave the Mystery Shack at any costs. Crap, she hoped no one realized she was gone. And she'd have to hide the journal somewhere, otherwise they'd ask where she got it. Tucking the journal under her shirt made a noticeable bulge under it. Sighing, Mabel took it out and hoped to god no one noticed.

Besides Dipper, of course.

…

Oh, they noticed. Oh boy, did they notice. Specifically, Grunkle Stan noticed. He spent hours giving her a good talking to about not leaving the Shack until Great Uncle Ford arrived. Good thing, Mabel zoned out a quarter of the way through.

Uncle Ford was the one who noticed the journal she had.

"Where did you get that?" he asked. Though it was more of a command than anything.

"Found it." Mabel shrugged her shoulders, holding the journal tight like it was a shield, bracing herself for the berating that was to come. There was none.

Ford made a sound, something like an exasperated grunt. He bent down to Mabel's eye level. "Listen, the triangle I asked you about earlier? That's Bill Cipher. He's a very dangerous enemy and this shack is the only place he can't enter." He stood up. "Go to sleep, Mabel."

She protested, but her mind and eyes were saying to comply. He spoke a couple more sentences, Mabel spoke a few more back. Through her sleep hazed mind, she couldn't remember exactly what they said, only the basics.

OOO

The next morning, Dipper woke up incredibly early. The sun was only barely in the sky, its light only touching the bottom of the horizon. The moon was still up there, shining dully. He woke her up again, shaking her much rougher than Mabel thought he could.

She woke up quickly, roused from her deep slumber. And she hadn't thought that anything could wake her up. Her surroundings came into view in an instant.

Dipper was staring at her, something like sadness in his eyes. Then something else was in there, something that gave her the same feeling the triangles he drew did. It took all of Mabel's self control to not shiver. Something was very, very wrong with Dipper. It was so different. Bad different. She didn't like it.

It had to be because of this Bill Cipher. She wanted to know more about him before she confronted anyone. Thankfully, her grunkles said she could look at the journal with their permission. She'd look up the entry on him later, if she could.

"What's up?" Mabel said. She was amazed her voice didn't tremble.

"Stan and Ford want to talk to us," he said. It didn't seem like he was completely with her right now. His eyes were glazed over.

They went downstairs where their great uncles were standing.

"Okay," Ford said. "Since some of you want us to have some _quality bonding time,_ my brother and I have decided to do just that." He looked pointedly at Mabel. She laughed nervously.

"And in order to do that, we've decided to let you take one item from the Mystery Shack. Just one," Grunkle Stan said. He put one finger up to emphasize.

"Really?" Mabel said. "Woo-hoo!" She ran around the room to search for an item.

"Hey, I've been wondering, if this is a tourist trap, why are there no people here?" Dipper said. He looked at everywhere but the two men. Mabel was glad he kept his inquisitiveness.

"Business's been slow here, kid. Don't worry about it," Stan said, waving his hand dismissively.

Dipper's eyes were still glazed over as he searched for something. He settled on a cap with a pine tree on it and brushed the dust off, not even looking at it.

Mabel settled on the item that seemed to be the best bet to help them should they encounter any dangerous situations. A grappling hook.


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N):** Gotta love how often I change my mind. What Bill says at the end of chapter 3 is changed to "how would you like to be a puppet?" or something like that. Updates are going to be really slow... I'm going to be experimenting a lot with this fic.

* * *

After that, Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford briefed them on some events that we're going on and explained a bit more about Bill Cipher. It was a short talk, one that lasted probably five minutes. None of them asked any questions besides this one:

"Is that it?" Dipper asked once they finished.

That wasn't it, they admitted. "But children like you shouldn't be involved in this," Great Uncle Ford said.

Mabel knew they weren't saying everything. What, she didn't know. She wanted to know.

…

After Bill took a hold of Dipper's end of the deal, Bill had remained strangely silent. It was strange, no commands were given, not one word uttered to him. There was no echoey, reverberating voice inside Dipper's head. He wasn't used to the everlasting silence, even if it was a blessing once he had some a long, long time ago.

He had a hard time believing that Bill was evil. Bill was his only friend in forever, and now to realize that Bill considered him only a pawn, to realize it was only a sick game to him? It had to be a joke. A bad joke that Bill had somehow led his great uncles to participate in.

That was something Dipper usually called, 'wishful thinking.' And he was wishing with all his might that he misunderstood what Bill said. Dipper tried brainstorming one day, a list of ideas that Bill might have meant instead. A positive connotation, not a negative one. He came up with zero. Suppose he asked Mabel, would she be any help trying to find a positive side? Probably not. She'd be too interrogative to help him. He was thankful she had toned down the questions. He could see it in her face, staring him down as Dipper read the journal.

After asking for the journal, in his free time, Dipper found himself reading it a lot. So much interesting things to be found in Gravity Falls, assuming the things written were true.

But there was one page he kept going back to (and he was sure Mabel had noticed by now). The page which, no matter how hard he tried, Dipper couldn't keep his eyes off for long. A page with a triangle and despite everything that happened, that drawing of that triangle made him feel comfort. He couldn't decide if he loved it or hated it. He did know that he would have loved it if Bill talked to him again. Just one more time.

If Bill actually did talk to him, what would he say? What he said once Dipper saw the picture, even if it was just a cruel joke, it would stick with him. And his great uncles said that Bill couldn't be trusted, no matter Dipper was seeing so far made him think it was true, but it couldn't be.

Denial, the friend that was, at the moment, replacing Bill. Back to the starting point, square one, it seemed. Dipper could have laughed, seeing now how dependent on Bill he was. Dipper had tried drawing more Bills but it didn't have the same spark as before. An empty, empty hole where his enjoyment was.

Dipper tried to replace Bill with Great Uncle Stanford. He and him, they had a lot in common. An adventurous spirit, or so Ford said. No matter how hard Dipper tried, no matter how long the time spent with Ford was, he couldn't feel it. A spark, joy.

Ford had said recently that he had something special planned. For both Dipper and Mabel in order to get rid of their boredom.

To be honest, he thought it was about time to give up, if only to try to break the cycle of self pity he had found himself in.

...

Bill appeared again, in his dreams. _One more time._

"LONG TIME NO SEE, PINE TREE."

It had been less than a month since he had last seen him, and already Dipper gave up hope. That hopeless void in his chest filled upon seeing him, caught up in the excitement of seeing his old friend. Then those words were spoken in his head, and _woosh,_ the void returned again. He could feel it and Bill could see it; the way Dipper's whole face broke out in a grin, then not into a grin.

"Yeah," was Dipper's response.

And Bill continued on, acting like nothing happened. Like that last deal hadn't been made, like he wasn't gone for weeks.

"YOU'RE SAD, YOU KNOW THAT."

Bluntness.

"YOU FEEL SAD."

Dipper didn't know what to say. Back to square one, indeed. Did he pretend like nothing happened, or confront Bill? But if he confronted him, then what? If he pretended like nothing happened, then there was a greater probability of them being friends… again.

"SO I'M THINKING, HOW DO I MAKE YOU LESS SAD?" Bill put a finger under his eye in a thinking gesture, pausing exaggeratedly in his speech.

Like a robot, Dipper's head turned upward, a stiffness in his neck making that simple action painful. "How?"

"WELL I'M THINKING YOUR SISTER CAN HELP YOU."

"She can?"

"TRUST me."

They stared at each other, no sounds made from them or anything else. Complete, total silence, save for the near non-existent breathing of Dipper's.

Dipper held out his hand and Bill's held out his. With the unspoken words being said, they shook. The first time without making a deal.

And as Dipper's eyes opened into the darkness of the room, he wished that Bill would've stayed longer.

Long enough to say _how_ Mabel would make him happy.

...

If Ford was the same age as Dipper then Mabel was sure that they would have been the best of friends. Dipper smiled the most around him, but Mabel felt that Dipper's smiles were a bit more empty than usual. Even his stiff, fake smiles from before would've sufficed. At least she would be sure that there was some semblance of normalcy. Actually, she thought his smiles were a lot faker than usual.

Maybe the indoors was messing with her head. Normalcy was anything but great. After hearing about the supernatural events and creatures that happened here, the restlessness she felt grew. Back home, Mabel never stayed in one place for long, excluding the time she was sleeping and during class. It made her jittery. Her brother probably felt the same way, judging from the constant glances he sent out the window.

Shame that her great uncles wouldn't let them out. She supposed it was for a good reason.

But she missed the outdoors. She was so frustrated, so rattly, being inside all day, everyday.

On occasion Grunkle Stan would go outside (say, once a day). Rarely did Great Uncle Ford go outside as well, but he did. 'Jealous' would be the word to describe Mabel when she saw them open the door to the other world. If she was going to be trapped in the shack then the outdoors might as well be another world.

Mabel recalled the metal plate Ford had written about in his journal. She remembered it so clearly because one: it was a metal plate in his head and that must have been incredibly uncomfortable putting it in - also having it in. Two: that was the only piece of information Dipper received that didn't have his eyes wide open. In fact, he was rather unimpressed. The metal plate wasn't an impressive piece of information in and of itself, but Ford's head did make a cool sound when she knocked on it.

 _Clang clang._ The sound of metal and not flesh or bone or nothing at all.

After hearing of the journals and asking to see them, Dipper spent most of his alone time pouring over the journal. Mabel didn't have enough time for herself to look over the journal because Dipper had them on him almost 24/7. It didn't matter though. Chances were, she'd forget most of the information she read. And Dipper did tell her what was in the journal from time to time.

How many days had it been since they first came to Gravity Falls? How many days left until they were to return back home? She lost count after ten. Dipper had a little makeshift calendar on his side of the room.

It was odd for Mabel to feel hesitant to ask for something. _Can I see your calendar? Can I see the journal for a second?_ Nothing bad could happen if she asked Dipper those questions. The worst that would happen was a simple no. She was certain he didn't have the courage to do anything else above that. If anyone had met the both of them, it was pretty much guaranteed that they would say that Mabel was the more courageous one.

Constantly she thought that Dipper was becoming more and more of a stranger. She knew she thought that too much, especially she didn't know Dipper _really_ well before, but now that thought ruminated in her head.

Maybe she was a bad sister for thinking that. Maybe she was a bad person for not trying to get closer to him. Maybe she'd be a bad sister if she tried to get closer to him. Dipper was drained quickly when dealing with social situations, that much she knew. Once she forcefully dragged him to a party and he seemed fine then, but as soon as they got home, he went immediately to his bed. That was before his whole obsession with triangles and the Bill Cipher guy started. Then he was always in bed.

Impulsive, rash, those were the words Dipper and others had used to describe her. Where was her impulsiveness now? She was so afraid and god she hated it. Grunkle Stan seemed a bit nervous around Dipper too, if his reluctance to go anywhere near him was to go by. Great Uncle Ford… he seemed to love Dipper. In a great uncle to great nephew kind of way. In a platonic way, that was it. Great Uncle Ford and Dipper were spending a lot of time together. They spent more time together in one day than Mabel did with either of them in a week and they were stuck in the shack.

Because of Bill Cipher, this summer vacation was not an exciting one. It was just so… so incredibly boring, unable to do anything but wait until the end of the summer. She wanted to see for herself what exactly this Bill Cipher was like, why he did as he did. Why he showed himself to Dipper but not her, how exactly he earned Dipper's trust so easily. According to her great uncle, he was a mischievous trickster, not to be trusted, very manipulative.

How much did Dipper like Bill anyways? Dipper's face remained impassive throughout the entire conversation until they came to the part of Bill Cipher, where his eyes widened slightly. Whether in shock that they were talking like Bill was a bad guy or in realization, she didn't know.

Day one of determining that she wanted to see him. Wish granted. It wasn't what she was expecting but nevertheless, it was a (pleasant) surprise.

The world she entered in was grayscale. Looking to the side, Mabel could see Dipper sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. He was completely still.

Bill introduced himself with a laugh. "AHAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHA." It certainly didn't sound dangerous, but it didn't sound friendly either.

She took a step back from the glowing triangle. Her mind worked overtime as she tried to process what was happening. Forcing a smile on her face, she asked, "Uh, you're Bill Cipher, aren't you?" But of course he was. The latest picture Dipper drew of him (Dipper stopped drawing more Bill triangles for some reason) was an almost near likeness of him. It was really intricate and the effort put in was really evident, looking at the triangle in front of her.

Again he laughed. "COURSE I AM. WHO ELSE WOULD I BE, IF NOT HIM? A FLOATING TRIANGLE?" A chuckle.

Mabel relaxed, tension she didn't know she had leaving from her body as she realized he wasn't going to try anything. Yet.

Twirling his cane, his eye smiling as close to a smile as possible - "HOW ARE YOU, SHOOTING STAR?" he asked. "WAIT, DON'T ANSWER."

Mabel didn't know how to answer anyways. Here he was, the Bill she was wondering about. They said he was powerless outside the mindscape, but inside? They didn't say anything. She regretted not asking more questions. There wasn't much harm Bill could do inside the mindscape, right? Well, she'd find out soon.

"SO, I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE YOUR BROTHER HAS BEEN ON YOUR MIND a lot LATELY." He went closer to Dipper and touched him. She half expected Dipper to wake up but all that happened was him regaining his color. As Bill moved away, the color vanished. "MOSTLY ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT HIM." His eye showed amusement, as if nothing was more amusing than Mabel being worried about her brother.

Mabel frowned. If Bill was trying to take over the world like they said and manipulated Dipper for… something, and trying to manipulate her now… He had another thing coming. She wouldn't let him manipulate her. Not now, not ever. Though she had to wonder if she'd know _if_ he was manipulating her and _how._ Mabel liked to think she was able to read people, but reading a master manipulator? She wasn't so sure, so all she could do was try. But if she couldn't read Dipper who was becoming increasingly harder to read, she really doubted any effort made a difference.

Mabel mumbled something.

"Hm?" Bill went closer to her, cupping his hand around an imaginary ear. It wasn't imaginary for long. An ear appeared where Mabel supposed it would be if Bill had ears, and it quickly grew far larger than him, nearly hitting her in the face. It would have if it was only a few inches wider.

"Just leave us alone!" Mabel yelled in the ear. She felt like she could yell louder.

Bill was unfazed by her volume and the ear shrunk then disappeared with a _pop_. "WOAH, CALM DOWN THERE."

"You calm down!"

Mabel had no idea why she was mad, actually. The outburst had come so suddenly, she didn't know that she, herself, had said it. The feeling of being angry was an unpleasant sensation.

He was floating around her. Slowly, making her have to continuously turn around in order to glare at him. "I WAS JUST THINKING, SINCE YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT YOUR brother, WHY DON'T I HELP YOU WITH THAT LITTLE PROBLEM?"

She shook her head. She didn't know what problem he was talking about, or if she even had a problem, but she wasn't going to let that guy help her with any nonexistent problem she had.

"OH, DON'T WORRY. I KNOW YOU DON'T TRUST ME," he said, sounding dejected. His eye went to the ground and his legs and arms went limp momentarily before he composed himself. "SO I'LL HELP YOU OUT FOR FREE - A FREEBIE. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO SHAKE ON IT."

The quick change in demeanor was discernable from his cheerful personality, floating alongside with Bill. Either he was putting up a cheerful act because he was secretly sad, or that change was to make her doubt herself.

Caution made her think it was the latter.

"That's just a trick, isn't it?" Spinning around and around, Bill went. Mabel was beginning to get a little dizzy. Then he stopped abruptly.

He heaved a long and exasperated sigh, rubbing the top of his eye. "WHATEVER YOU BELIEVE, KID."

A flash of light.

It was a pitch blackness before Mabel opened her eyes again. Through the light of the triangular window, Mabel saw that Dipper was already up, sitting on the bed, staring at her with something unreadable in his eyes. That was always the case with him, why did Mabel even bother thinking that? And his whole facial expression for that matter. His mouth didn't know whether to smile or stay in a straight line. At least it was an expression?

He spoke softly: "Morning, Mabel," in a dry, raspy whisper.

"Morning, Dipper." She swung her legs over the bed and sat up. Normally she would ask what the occasion was, why _today_ was the day Dipper greeted her. But she already knew the answer, didn't she?

There they sat, in silence, not one person saying anything. A blissful silence for Dipper, that was for sure.

Her thoughts whirled around Bill. Their meeting was brief, far too brief to come to a definite conclusion as to what his personality was like. Mischievous, that much was certain, if only for his near constant one eyed grin and his playful tone.

Other than that, nothing Great Uncle Ford or Grunkle Stan said seemed accurate. But they did say he was manipulative. Maybe Bill was a great actor too. But he didn't seem that bad. Well, he did, in a good way. She liked him. If Great Uncle Ford knew what she was thinking now, then Mabel was sure he'd be angry beyond belief. Come to think of it, Mabel didn't know how Grunkle Stan would react. Must have been a side effect of not talking to him much. It wasn't that she didn't talk to him on purpose, but Stan was just… There. Like there was no purpose to him being here, he was just a background prop. She made a mental note to herself: get to know Stan _pronto._

"Mabel, do you want to hang out today?"

Whatever Mabel had been expecting Dipper to say, it wasn't that.

Her drowsiness from just waiting up was gone completely.

"Yeah!" She didn't know where they would hang out, but was she happy that Dipper was finally coming out of his hermit crab shell. Hermit crabs did have shells, right?

But then again, there was a chance it wasn't actually Dipper himself that was asking her to hang out. For all she knew, it could have been the work of Bill that was making him do so. But Bill was helping her out with getting closer to Dipper, and without something in return… or so she hoped. And the explanation about Bill Cipher was just glided by quickly. Not much information about him. Maybe they didn't know about Bill too much, that was why they thought he was bad and evil and dangerous. Mabel knew that since Dipper was so quiet, everyone thought he was stuck up and pretty much a teacher's pet. But underneath that quiet exterior was a big, cuddly kitten. Once he got comfortable, anyways.

Bill and Dipper, no wonder Dipper was so obsessed with Bill. Two misunderstood people - beings, rather - that came off differently than they intended, and they knew it. Mabel bet that once she got to know Bill better then he would warm up to her and they'd be the best of friends. It was a hopeful thought, wasn't it?

She'd find out if Bill was evil later, maybe if she screwed up or by his own terms. It was possible she was being too cautious. The same way it was possible that she wasn't being cautious enough.

Dipper knew Bill very, very well. He should know. For years Dipper had interacted with Bill. Perhaps only in the Mindscape, but still. If Mabel asked him if Bill was evil, would he say yes? He would likely say no, if Bill was deceiving him. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Before she knew what was happening, her mouth opened, words pouring out like they had a mind of their own. "Do you think Bill's evil?"

Dipper jolted in his spot, like lightning struck him.

"Not evil," he said slowly. "Just… an asshole." He looked off to the side.

Mabel scooted closer to him. "A good kind of asshole? Or bad kind?"

He was still looking off to the side.

And here it was, the awkward silence that Dipper was renown for. What she wouldn't give to be able to read minds. His mind, specifically.

But she could make a good guess on what he was thinking. She was his sister, after all, and should know him well. She spied on him enough to know him well, probably. During his conversations with his only friend back in elementary. What happened to that person, anyways? After Dipper suddenly stopped appearing in the playground during breaks, that person and Mabel drifted away, but they weren't close in the first place. Person was probably fine, though. Didn't have to have summer vacation in fear of a triangle trying to be an overlord. Or so that was what Stanford said Bill was trying to do.

"A good asshole," Dipper said finally.

A good one. Dipper was a good judge of character. His amazing analytical skills _did_ apply to people, right? Even if not, it was hard for him to trust anyone. And if he trusted Bill, maybe Bill wasn't a bad triangle person, just misunderstood by Stan. But they said he was good at manipulating people, but Dipper wasn't manipulated easily, she didn't think.

"Do you like him?" Mabel asked, eager to learn more of his opinion.

"Platonically?"

Mabel jokingly punched him in the shoulder. "Yes, platonically."

He waved his hand in the air half-heartedly. She guessed that meant so-so. And in her guide to Dipper book, a so-so meant he did like him. Platonically.

It was hard to know who to trust. It wasn't like she knew either of them well anyways. Trust the two old men related to her that she didn't know well or trust Dipper's old best friend?

For now, she would trust Dipper's judgement. Until she could make her own decision.


End file.
